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Mystified? Not me

Published: Friday, September 27, 2013 at 9:50 a.m.

Last Modified: Friday, September 27, 2013 at 9:50 a.m.

“If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.”

— Mark Twain

This is good advice for anyone, but particularly good advice for those in the public eye whose words and deeds are documented for all the world to see — now and a few months from now when they turn out to be rubbish.

Some more good advice for public officials is this: Before you give away public property, try to figure out what it might be worth.

Even if you think a building the school system owns might be of “negative value” or is a “liability,” get it appraised to see what the public’s property is actually worth. It being the public’s and all, the public might appreciate you getting something that approaches its actual value in exchange for it.

I bring up this issue because until recently, the Terrebonne Parish School Board was trying to literally give away a building that — get this — turns out to be worth $1.1 million.

I can’t help but think these folks might be a little more conscientious about protecting the value of their personal property than they are of the taxpayers’.

I hope so, at least.

I don’t want to think these people’s husbands and wives have to worry about coming home to find out their home has been given away.

After all, there wasn’t any point in having it appraised. It probably wasn’t worth anything anyway.

No, it is doubtful that they treat their own property like that. But make no mistake: That is exactly how they treat the public’s property.

So the school system has a piece of property at Grinage and Academy streets in Houma that it uses to house several offices where 80 employees work. It no longer wants the property or the building, so it started the process of selling the whole thing — land and building. One of the first steps was to have it appraised. Not the building, mind you, since that had “negative value” and was a “liability,” according to Superintendent Philip Martin back in June.

By this week, though, those words had changed.

“We’ve come to the conclusion that an appraisal should include everything you intend to sell,” Martin declared with newfound wisdom earlier this week. “That includes every speck of dirt and every grain of sand.”

And every $1.1 million building, apparently.

How does this happen? I don’t know. Heck, I still don’t know why the school system purposely misled voters leading up to its failed attempt to pass a huge tax increase back in May.

Knowing what we know now, it is easy to guess why the board waited until after the election to try to give away its million dollar building.

I mean, it’s hard to claim you don’t have enough money if you’re giving away public property $1.1 million at a time.

Then again, claims that were difficult to defend characterized the school system’s campaign for the unprecedented tax hike.

The system’s website made a few claims about the “facts,” claims that were demonstrably untrue yet left on the site until the election.

The website claimed, for instance, that a 20-year tax was actually a 10-year tax. It also laughably claimed that parish taxpayers pay more for garbage collection than they do for the schools. Apparently, the system was using a small difference in the size of the garbage and schools’ millages to make this claim — without factoring in the millions in revenue created by the schools’ 2-cent sales tax, which is, the last I looked, a tax.

So the school system wasn’t trying to give away its $1.1 million building while it was poor-mouthing its own finances and asking for ever more from the parish’s taxpayers. But it didn’t take long afterward for it to try exactly that.

And in the midst of all this — knowing the school system’s trouble with the truth and its trouble with attaching a realistic value to public possessions — Martin says he is “mystified” by the fact that some find the system’s actions suspicious when it comes to this proposed giveaway.

Mystified? Him? Well, what is mystifying to me is when the school system wants to give away public property worth $1.1 million. It is even more mystifying when it is done by a system that is begging for tax increases and cutting positions and programs because of a supposed lack of money.

Editorial Page Editor Michael Gorman can be reached at 448-7612 or by e-mail at mike.gorman@dailycomet.com.

<p>“If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.” </p><p>— Mark Twain</p><p>This is good advice for anyone, but particularly good advice for those in the public eye whose words and deeds are documented for all the world to see — now and a few months from now when they turn out to be rubbish.</p><p>Some more good advice for public officials is this: Before you give away public property, try to figure out what it might be worth.</p><p>Even if you think a building the school system owns might be of “negative value” or is a “liability,” get it appraised to see what the public's property is actually worth. It being the public's and all, the public might appreciate you getting something that approaches its actual value in exchange for it.</p><p>I bring up this issue because until recently, the Terrebonne Parish School Board was trying to literally give away a building that — get this — turns out to be worth $1.1 million.</p><p>I can't help but think these folks might be a little more conscientious about protecting the value of their personal property than they are of the taxpayers'.</p><p>I hope so, at least.</p><p>I don't want to think these people's husbands and wives have to worry about coming home to find out their home has been given away.</p><p>After all, there wasn't any point in having it appraised. It probably wasn't worth anything anyway.</p><p>No, it is doubtful that they treat their own property like that. But make no mistake: That is exactly how they treat the public's property.</p><p>So the school system has a piece of property at Grinage and Academy streets in Houma that it uses to house several offices where 80 employees work. It no longer wants the property or the building, so it started the process of selling the whole thing — land and building. One of the first steps was to have it appraised. Not the building, mind you, since that had “negative value” and was a “liability,” according to Superintendent Philip Martin back in June.</p><p>By this week, though, those words had changed.</p><p>“We've come to the conclusion that an appraisal should include everything you intend to sell,” Martin declared with newfound wisdom earlier this week. “That includes every speck of dirt and every grain of sand.”</p><p>And every $1.1 million building, apparently.</p><p>How does this happen? I don't know. Heck, I still don't know why the school system purposely misled voters leading up to its failed attempt to pass a huge tax increase back in May.</p><p>Knowing what we know now, it is easy to guess why the board waited until after the election to try to give away its million dollar building.</p><p>I mean, it's hard to claim you don't have enough money if you're giving away public property $1.1 million at a time.</p><p>Then again, claims that were difficult to defend characterized the school system's campaign for the unprecedented tax hike.</p><p>The system's website made a few claims about the “facts,” claims that were demonstrably untrue yet left on the site until the election.</p><p>The website claimed, for instance, that a 20-year tax was actually a 10-year tax. It also laughably claimed that parish taxpayers pay more for garbage collection than they do for the schools. Apparently, the system was using a small difference in the size of the garbage and schools' millages to make this claim — without factoring in the millions in revenue created by the schools' 2-cent sales tax, which is, the last I looked, a tax.</p><p>So the school system wasn't trying to give away its $1.1 million building while it was poor-mouthing its own finances and asking for ever more from the parish's taxpayers. But it didn't take long afterward for it to try exactly that.</p><p>And in the midst of all this — knowing the school system's trouble with the truth and its trouble with attaching a realistic value to public possessions — Martin says he is “mystified” by the fact that some find the system's actions suspicious when it comes to this proposed giveaway.</p><p>Mystified? Him? Well, what is mystifying to me is when the school system wants to give away public property worth $1.1 million. It is even more mystifying when it is done by a system that is begging for tax increases and cutting positions and programs because of a supposed lack of money.</p><p>Editorial Page Editor Michael Gorman can be reached at 448-7612 or by e-mail at mike.gorman@dailycomet.com.</p>